The Global Virus Network (GVN) announced today the launch of a Task Force on HTLV, Human T-Lymphotropic Virus (HTLV), the world's first known human retrovirus and only known leukemia-causing virus. Experts from 11 countries*, led by Dr. Robert Gallo, GVN co-founder and scientific director and director of the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Dr. Luc Willems (Research Director, National Fund for Scientific Research at University of Liège) and Dr. Hideki Hasegawa (Director, Department of Pathology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan) are leading the Task Force, which met for the first time last month.
"There are no effective vaccines against HTLV, no antiviral drugs to treat infections, and though there are diagnostic tests for the virus none yet can predict which infected person gets disease," said Dr. Gallo who pioneered the field of human retrovirology with his groundbreaking discoveries of HTLV- 1 in 1980 and HTLV-2 in 1982. "This Task Force is critical as the global community works together to address a problem which in many countries is under-recognized and under-appreciated," he continued.
More than 20 million people worldwide are infected with the virus, of which up to 10% will develop debilitating and sometimes deadly disease. HTLV causes an adult T-cell leukemia/ lymphoma (ATL), HTLV-associated myelopathy (HAM), spastic paraparesis, and other rare illnesses. Signs and symptoms of HTLV infection include motor and sensory changes in the extremities, inflammation in the spinal cord, a spastic gait in combination with weakness of the lower limbs, cognitive impairment, bladder dysfunction and bladder cancer. HTLV, similar to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), also co-discovered by Dr. Gallo as the cause of AIDS, is transmitted through sexual contact, from mother to child via breastfeeding, and through exposure to contaminated blood.
"This task force is to set the common goal among the scientists around the world to accelerate the research in order to overcome HTLV and related diseases," said Dr. Hideki Hasegawa of Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases.
The mission of the HTLV Task Force is to speed the pathway to discovery of drugs that will stop virus transmission or progression from infection to disease, in addition to educating the public about the nature of these viruses, the diseases they cause, and how to prevent their spread.
Dr. Sharon Hrynkow, President of GVN, concluded, "We are excited to be able to bring together leading experts to mobilize more research and more attention to HTLV by governments in order to help communities most affected by this insidious virus."
*Members of the Task Force on HTLV are: Drs. William Hall (co-founder of GVN, Ireland); Eduardo Gotuzzo (Peru); Hua Cheng (USA), Viviana Simon (USA), Edward Murphy (USA), Anna Barbara Carneiro-Proietti (Brazil), Yutaka Tagaya (USA), Masao Matsuoka (Japan), Antoine Gessain (France), Umberto Bertazzoni (Italy), Toshiki Watanabe (Japan), Renaud Mahieux (France), Yoshihisa Tamano (Japan), Olivier Hermine (France), Vincenzo Ciminale (Italy), Charles Bangham (UK), Luigi Chieco-Bianchi (Italy), Roberto Accolla (Italy), G.P. Taylor (UK), Beatrice Macchi (Italy), Steve Jacobson (USA), Joseph Harford (USA), Ali Bazarbachi (Lebanon), Cal Macpherson (Grenada) and Raj Shah (CTIS, USA).
For press inquiries, contact Nora Grannell (ngrannell@gvn.org) or for scientific inquiries contact Ed McSweegan, PhD (emcsweegan@gvn.org) or visit the GVN website http://www.gvn.org.
About Global Virus Network (GVN)
The Global Virus Network (GVN) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, comprised of leading medical virologists from more than 20 countries. The GVN's mission is to combat current and emerging pandemic viral threats through international collaborative research, training the next generation of medical virologists, and advocacy. For more information, please visit http://www.gvn.org or call 410-706-1966. Follow GVN on Twitter @GlobalVirusNews